● Executives stressed that commerce is shifting to smartphones during the company’s first beauty summit, held at L.A.’s Hotel Bel-Air.

BY RACHEL BROWN

The future is not still.Whether in the form of scrolling carousel

ads, live video feeds, conversational bots or layered virtual-reality universes, Facebook executives Thursday — in Los Angeles’ Hotel Bel-Air, at the company’s first beauty summit — explored the smartphone not as a static device but as an increasingly active one that responds to and compels shopping habits. For beauty brands, they underscored the bottom line: Commerce is shifting to mobile — and they better be on board with that shift to nab sales.

“Consumers are comfortable buying key products in their regimen online, where I see the opportunity, especially for social commerce, is in impulse-driven categories such as lip, eye and color, where mobile plays a critical role in terms of discovery and where

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Fashion. Beauty. Business.

RESORT 2017Versace, Narciso Rodriguez, Prabal Gurung and more. PAGES 6 TO 8

PARIS PLANSGreek jeweler Zolotas plans expansion with a new boutique in Paris. PAGE 11

BACKLASHLancôme faces a boycott threat in Hong Kong and mainland China over its association with a celebrity known to support Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. PAGE 10

Red carpet or runway, the eternally buff Naomi Campbell comes ready to play. Monday night she turned out at the CFDA Awards in a glam cutout number by Brandon Maxwell, who happened to land the Swarovski award for women’s wear up-and-comer. The evening’s big winners: Marc Jacobs for women’s and Thom Browne for men’s. For more on the awards, see pages 4 to 6.

EYE

Night Star

BUSINESS

Burberry, Richemont Executives’ Pay Packets Shrink● Falling sales and profits weigh

on the companies’ top earners.BY SAMANTHA CONTI

LONDON — Salary packages are getting slim-mer at Burberry and Richemont, where top executives saw their year-end pay pinched by fickle demand for luxury goods and falling sales and profits in fiscal 2015-16.

The current year is also looking pretty grim for both companies and employees.

In the year to March 31, Burberry saw prof-its before tax fall 6.5 percent to 416 million pounds, or $628.2 million, on revenue that was down 1 percent on an underlying basis to 2.5 billion pounds, or $3.78 billion.

Against the backdrop of harder times, the company has unveiled a new strategy with the aim of delivering at least 100 million pounds, or $144 million, of cost savings by 2019, with some 20 million pounds, or $29 million,

BEAUTY

FacebookOn Beauty:Moment forMobile Is Now

ISSUE: July 13CLOSE: June 29

MATERIALS: July 4

NYFW: Men’s PreviewISSUE: June 15CLOSE: June 1

MATERIALS: June 6

Milan Preview

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT PAMELA FIRESTONE, ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER AT 212 256 8103 OR PFIRESTONE@WWD.COM

Men’s Fashion WeeksAn Advertising Opportunity

expected this year.All figures have been calculated at average

exchange rates for the periods to which they refer.

Last month, Burberry said it had already saved more than 25 million pounds, or $37.8 million, in discretionary costs in 2015-16, according to plan.

All management, and most importantly Christopher Bailey, the man doing double duty as chief creative and chief executive officer, have been forced to make sacrifices in order to reach those goals.

In the year to March 31, Bailey received a pay package of 1.9 million pounds, or $2.9 million, compared with 7.5 million pounds, or $12.1 million, in the previous year.

While he still received his base salary of 1.1 million pounds, or $1.7 million, he collected no bonus and no share plan awards.

He did, however, get 464,000 pounds, or $700,640, in benefits and allowances, and 330,000 pounds, or $498,300, paid into his pension.

Other top executive directors also lost out on bonuses and share plan awards.

In its annual report, Burberry was clear about the reasons for the cuts. It cited “a challenging external environment,” along with “stretching” performance targets set out at the beginning of its financial year.

The group also noted that group adjusted profit before tax was below the threshold target set by the remuneration committee at the start of the year — which translated into a big goodbye to annual bonus payments.

Burberry said that “relatively subdued growth” in group adjusted profit before tax between 2013 and 2016 meant that share awards granted in 2013 based on that particu-lar performance measure would not vest.

A short plane ride southeast, in Geneva, Switzerland, Richemont’s top brass were suf-fering similar cuts to their pay packages.

Profit for the year at Compagnie Financière Richemont, parent of brands including Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, and IWC, rose 67 percent to 2.23 billion euros, or $2.45 billion, bolstered by the sale of Net-a-porter and other items. Operating profit was down an underly-ing 11 percent.

Sales increased 6.4 percent to 11.08 billion euros, or $12.19 billion on a reported basis. On a constant currency basis, however, they were down 1 percent.

In the year ended March 31, Richemont’s chief executive officer Richard Lepeu saw his salary drop to 9.7 million Swiss francs, or $10 million, from 14.3 million Swiss francs, or $15.4 million, in the previous year.

Bernard Fornas, who held the position of co-ceo until the end of the year, saw his salary drop to 9.7 million Swiss francs, or $10 million, from 11.7 million Swiss francs, or $12.6 million, compared with the previous year.

Gary Saage, Richemont’s chief financial officer, meanwhile took home 8.5 million Swiss francs, or $8.8 million, in fiscal 2015-16, compared with 9.9 million Swiss francs, or $10.7 million, in the previous year.

Richemont said in its annual report that the group’s compensation strategy “should reward our most senior executives when the group outperforms our competitors while making the necessary adjustments in periods of more moderate performance.”

For the year-under review, Richemont noted that the fixed compensation (base salary and benefits) of the senior executive committee was 8 percent lower than in the previous year, with variable compensation (short and long-term incentive plans) 30 percent lower.

Richemont added that fixed compensation is being “further reduced” in the current financial year so that Richemont remains in line with competitors on the Swiss stock exchange, making the current year’s salary freeze at Burberry look downright generous.

7 JUNE 2016 3

● Stefan Larsson, chief executive officer, will outline his strategic plan at an Investor Day today.

BY LISA LOCKWOOD

Significant layoffs could be coming at Ralph Lauren Corp., according to indus-try sources.

Although the exact number couldn’t be learned, sources indicated the cuts would occur throughout the organiza-tion and some stores would be shut-tered. The cuts could impact up to 10 percent of the workforce, said sources. Several longtime company executives are said to be affected.

Stefan Larsson, chief executive officer and president of Ralph Lauren, plans to outline his multi-year strategic plan today at an Investor Day for analysts.

A spokesman for Ralph Lauren declined comment.

It is believed that the job cuts are one part of a bigger restructuring plan that Larsson will divulge to modernize the company and make it leaner and more nimble.

This latest anticipated round of cost-cutting would come after last year’s 5 percent reduction in head count, or about 750 jobs, due to the company’s shift to a different operating model.

Those cuts were expected to reduce annual operating expenses by $125 mil-lion, and the company took total charges of $142 million during fiscal 2016 and planned to incur additional charges of about $5 million during fiscal 2017.

During an earnings call last month, Larsson, who joined in November, said that the company needed to return to its core business. He said that, follow-ing a comprehensive review, “we have

gained a very clear understanding of the underlying drivers of the current perfor-mance and we now have a detailed view of what’s driving the downward trend. In short, we have not focused enough on the core of what made us great in product, marketing and the shopping experience.” He added that the company has an “inefficient cost structure and organization that’s not nimble enough in the marketplace. What made us great was a crystal-clear focus on owning classic, iconic styles and putting an effortless twist to it to make it current and desirable.”

For the year ended April 2, Lauren’s net income declined 43.6 percent to $396 million on a 2.8 percent decrease in total revenues to $7.41 billion.

At the end of March, 2015, the com-pany said it had 25,000 employees, con-sisting of 15,000 full-time staffers and 10,000 part-time workers. About 15,000 are located in the U.S., with 10,000 located overseas.

At present, the company has 493 directly operated stores, which includes 144 Ralph Lauren stores, 77 Club Monaco stores and 272 Polo factory stores. It also operates 583 concession shop locations worldwide. International licensing part-ners operate 93 Ralph Lauren stores and 42 dedicated shops, as well as 133 Club Monaco stores and shops.

THE MARKETS

Ralph Lauren Seen Making Job Cuts

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Proenza Schouler Reassesses Handbag Line, Unveils Updated Version of PS1 ● The label has made significant changes to its handbag strategy and has introduced new styles — including an updated PS1, called the PS1+.

● Veuve Clicquot 2016 Polo Classic

● The New York Public Library Sparkles with Chanel Fine Jewelry Dinner

● Gucci Resort 2017

● Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger, Aerin Lauder, Brandon Maxwell And Malan Breton Among FGI Rising Star Winners

Global Stock TrackerAs of close June 6, 2016

ADVANCERS

DECLINERS

Elizabeth Arden Inc. +9.58%

Tailored Brands Inc. +3.76%

Avon Products Inc. +3.57%

Revlon Inc. +3.22%

Hugo Boss AG +2.49%

Matsuya Co. Ltd. -5.37%

Luen Thai Holdings Ltd. -4.35%

Kose Corp. -2.72%

Urban Outfitters Inc. -2.09%

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. -2.01%

TOP 5TRENDINGON WWD.COM

Stefan Larsson and Ralph Lauren

CORRECTION: Due to a miscommunication, a quote was incorrectly attributed to David Simon, chairman and ceo of Simon Property Group, in “Centers and Retailers Adapt to New World at ReCon” in Monday’s digital daily.

Burberry, Richemont Executives’ Pay Packets Shrink CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Christopher Bailey backstage at Burberry’s fall 2015 show.

4 7 JUNE 2016

NEW YORK — “Do you know what, this is the first time I’ve been here in 14 years,” said Calvin Klein on Monday night on the red carpet at the CFDA Awards. His return to the circuit was in honor of his close friend Donna Karan, who was receiving the Founder’s Award — in-deed, a cause worthy of a reappearance.

It was a reappearance for many — and a repeat for many award winners. Marc Jacobs received the Womenswear Designer of the Year prize; Thom Browne won Menswear Designer of the Year, and Beyoncé received the Fashion Icon Award. Usually the winner of that honorary prize is revealed along with the nominees in April, but this time around, Beyoncé’s selec-tion was a surprise.

Accessories Designer of the Year went to Rachel Mansur and Floriana Gavriel of Mansur Gavriel. The Swarovski Awards went to Brandon Maxwell for women’s wear; Alex, Matthew and Samantha Orley of Orley for men’s wear, and Paul Andrew for accessories.

Among the other honorary prizewinners this year were Norma Kamali, who received the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award; the International Award went to Alessandro Michele, creative director of Gucci, and the Board of Direc-

Drinks, Dinner — and The CFDA AwardsMarc Jacobs, Thom Browne and Mansur Gavriel were the night’s big winners.

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Joan Smalls in Givenchy.

Martha Hunt in Diane von

Furstenberg.Emily Ratajkowski in

Jason Wu.

Rosie Huntington-Whitely in Michael Kors Collection and Michael Kors.

Adriana Lima in Marc Jacobs.

Tilda Swinton in Haider Ackermann.

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tors’ Tribute was given to David Bowie, who died in January.

The Kenneth Cole Footwear and Accessory Innovation Fellowship was awarded to Blake Felty, a graduate of Fashion Institute of Technol-ogy, and Kara Kroeger, a graduate of Kent State University.

Felty and Kroeger will receive a 12-month, full-time, post-graduate placement within Kenneth Cole Productions.

In a curious mixing, the Oscars of fashion were infiltrated by many of comedy’s biggest names, from the “Broad City” girls to Lena Dunham to host Joel McHale. “I hope he’s funny,” whispered Browne.

“Well, I live in Los Angeles, so I don’t interact with the New York fashion crowd very much,” McHale admitted. “And that’s not out of not

wanting to…” He trailed off to shower a pregnant Olivia Wilde with compliments. “You look like an Irish goddess,” he told her.

“I’m so excited that I got to come here with Rosie,” Wilde said of her date, a beaming Rosie Assoulin, after laughing off McHale. “She is the definition of the cool-girl designer.”

Not only were guests taking in the ceremony from a new venue, the Hammerstein Ballroom, but for a change they were being treated to a dinner instead of simply cocktails. “Normally you sit down in the auditorium and you don’t see any-one until the end,” said Karlie Kloss, who also was wearing Assoulin. “And now, it’ll be a big reunion.”

The red carpet was a melty love fest of de-signers and their chosen dates.

“Brandon is going to be someone who goes Claire Danes in

Calvin Klein Collection and Eva

Fehren jewelry.

Kirsten Dunst in Rodarte. Hari Nef in Gucci.

Ansel Elgort in Thom Browne.

Alek Wek

Jacquelyn Jablonski in Narciso Rodriguez.

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so far in this business,” Naomi Campbell cooed of the man behind her dress, Brandon Maxwell.

“I was first introduced to Paul Andrew’s shoes about three years ago when I was filming in Toronto,” said Jessica Chastain, in Prabal Gurung and on the arm of Andrew. “I loved them so much I brought them to Cannes with me and wore them on a photo shoot in the ocean.”

Many of the celebrity dates came along in part due to their interest in fashion — “I’ve always been happy taking a couple risks,” Selma Blair said of her one-armed Christian Siriano suit — while many were happy to let the experts take the reins. “Christian picked my entire look,” Alicia Silver-stone added, motioning to Siriano, flanked by the two — and the jealousy of every Nineties film fan.

“I’m like a total puppet tonight, she could do whatever she wants with me,” said Soko, on the arm of Eva Zuckerman.

“We were really digging black tonight, no matter what the design was,” said Ilana Glazer, wearing

Rebecca Minkoff with her “Broad City” costar Abbi Jacobson.

“The shoes can really make or break an outfit,” Ciara said, much to the delight of her date, Stuart Weitzman. “Did you hear that, she said she picked the shoes first,” a tickled Weitzman said.

“Today was actually very cool,” said Rio Uribe, nominee for Gypsy Sport, apparently free of any pre-awards nerves. “We chilled, we vibed, we smoked, we hung out.”

McHale drew headlines when he was revealed as the choice — followed by guessing games as to what he might conjure up. Which designer would he skewer? Which fashion darling would be shaking in her seat? It turned of the fashion crowd wasn’t very afraid of the humorously sour comedian — in fact, most had no idea who he was. “I don’t…” a confused Alexa Chung offered, when asked for her thoughts on the host. “What?” asked Soko. “I have no idea who that is.”

— LEIGH NORDSTROM

Riley Keough in Proenza Schouler.

Sophie Kennedy Clark in Creatures of

the Wind.

Hanne Gaby OdieleJessica Chastain in

Prabal Gurung.

Michael C. Hall with Morgan Hall in Baja East.

Sofia Sanchez Barrenechea in Dannijo jewelry.Jessica Hart

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7 JUNE 2016 7

Resort Now

VersaceAn imaginative coast-to-coast trip across the USA served as the starting point for Donatella Versace’s resort collection. She didn’t take the inspiration literally: There were no stars and stripes, embossed cowboy belts or boots here — but rather, abstract, atmospheric references.

The colors of New York City’s neon signs echoed in blocks of primary colors, giving graphic urban attitude to cropped flared pants worn with tailored jackets, silk shirts trimmed with the house’s signature Greca motif and the season’s signature polo dress embellished with pleats. The short dress also appeared in a more sensual version, with a feminine draped panel decorated with a brooch, as well as in a sheer black evening option with colorful, embroidered studs and crystals.

To evoke midwestern American meadows and plains, Versace used a micro-floral pattern on several looks; a touch of romanticism that was never too sugar-coated, especially when used on a high-slit plissé skirt paired with a patchwork shirt. Finally, ap-proaching the West Coast and its cities, the collection returned to sleeker silhouettes, with laser-cut bonded leather jackets, silk shirts and dresses whose lines and graphics referenced street-plan grids and contemporary architecture. — ALESSANDRA TURRA

Rosetta GettyAmerican painter Ellsworth Kelly’s influence was palpable throughout Rosetta Getty’s playful, lighthearted resort collection. Bold lines and colorful stripes were seen throughout: A multihued, midlength mock turtleneck dress juxtaposed verti-cal vs. horizontal patterns, while an off-the- shoulder, flared-sleeve top and match-ing skirt ensemble featured starkly contrasting, broad black and white bands.

There was also an undercurrent of Americana, both in the palette (red white and blue were all prominent) and in cute denimlike pieces, which were actually done in an indigo tweed. Most memorable: a cool mididress, cut like an apron with criss-crossing straps in back. — MAYTE ALLENDE

Prabal Gurung“Resort and holiday should be about living, enjoying, having fun,” said Prabal Gurung during his studio presen-tation. And indeed, this collection was probably Gurung’s most laid-back to date. To start off, he sent out a beautiful blue ikat chiffon shirtdress, followed by a matching top and asymmetric hemmed, high-waisted skirt. “Whenever she travels, [my client] wants to feel easy, comfortable,” he said. Further reinforcing the designers: new, more relaxed ap-proaches were silk bias dresses and flared pants featuring strategically undone buttons.

His characteristically graphic sweaters were also present, on perhaps more subdued patterns, and paired with fluid skirts. Another chic highlight: a sandy high-waist-ed skirt, which almost felt like a deconstructed trench with its accentuated pockets and belts. “This can easily go from the office, to a lunch or elsewhere...it’s very versatile,” he said.

And of course, Gurung did have to include just a bit of drama — in his sought-after evening wear. A black and white floral strapless gown with all-over fringed texture provided just the right amount of it. — M.A.

Narciso RodriguezNarciso Rodriguez derived the coolly arch attitude of his resort collection from Richard Avedon portraits. “We used the gesture of these women, the depth and the characters and made them a little more deconstructed and soft,” he said during a preview. It was easy to imagine an Avedon swan of 2016 wearing Rodriguez’s black and white bias slip gown with a spliced effect based on the lines of bias seaming, or an ivory matte silk shantung gown cut with a minimal, modernist couture hand.

Rodriguez noted that the lineup included a much bigger evening focus than usual: It’s part of his “mission” to upscale, elevate and distinguish his product. “There’s so much stuff out there. We get a response to things that are desirable, unique and useable and timeless — and made out of beautiful fabrics,” said Rodriguez. Hear, hear.

That philosophy extended to daywear too, with Rodri-guez expanding his palette beyond his mainstays of black and white to include berry, blush, brown and blue. There were inconspicuously sexy, fluid dresses that showed a peek of the rib cage through the arm hole, bodycon knits and a boyfriend sweater that gently hugged a woman’s shape with slight hourglass seaming. — JESSICA IREDALE

Prabal Gurung

Narciso Rodriguez

Rosetta Getty

Versace

8 7 JUNE 2016

AdeamHanako Maeda wanted to capture the effortlessness of traditional warm-weather dressing in her native Japan. “Kimonos are worn a little differently in the summer,” she explained. The lighter, looser styles, called yukatas, are tied gently at the waist with a silk obi belt. Using indi-go-dyed linen, cotton and shibori-dyed organza, Maeda referenced them in a few ways, from cropped tops with oversize bows to airy cape dresses to a crisp cotton button-down top with textured organza wrap detailing at the waist. One of several inventive mixed-fabric shirtings, it was paired with a matching drawstring parachute skirt, making a chic, modern statement for evening dressing.

Keeping in mind fall delivery schedules, Maeda paired her easy blouses and slipdresses with men’s-inspired tweed jackets, linen trenchcoats and off-the-shoulder sweaters, conveying a relaxed — and transitional — so-phisticated look. “It was about layering...pieces that you can wear with ease,” she said. — KRISTI GARCED

Coach 1941Three years ago, when Stuart Vevers took the helm at Coach 1941, he had a plan and a vision for the brand. “I really saw Coach as being a destination for fashion,” he said. Today, he has no doubt reinvigorated the American brand into a solid fashion player. “It’s really important to me to challenge what luxury means to the next genera-tion. Luxury does not have to be formal,” Vevers added.

Looks-wise, he stuck to his formula. Biker jackets offset by feminine dresses came in fun “customized” versions with badges; T-shirts reminiscent of the quintessential American rock tees featured automobile motifs, which carried over into totes as well as sneakers. Felix the Cat even made a few appearances throughout. “I think it’s quite an eclectic mix of references,” Vevers pointed out. Case in point: a cool parka with cowboy shirt detailing.

“I really want Coach to be in the forefront of what luxury in fashion can be going forward,” Vevers concluded. — MAYTE ALLENDE

Peter PilottoPeter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos referenced Latin America in their vibrant resort lineup, working exotic textures and colors withspirit. Known for their use of cotton, they expanded this season with looks in taffeta, metallic Lurex chiffon and fil coupé jacquard. “We thought, what’s an equivalent of cotton that’s a bit more elevated?” said de Vos, motioning towards a series of taffe-ta dresses and tops rendered in sil-houettes that highlighted shoulders, necks and décolleté. “We wanted to do fun volumes,” added Pilotto.

A few knitwear looks — including an embroidered crochet long-sleeve turtleneck dress — riffed on tradi-tional South American rugs and woven textiles. Off-the-shoulder blouses featured color-blocked ruffles and bell sleeves, most of them decorated with Peruvian-style embroidery, broderie anglaise trims or hand-drawn digital prints. Paired with voluminous maxiskirts, the looks channeled a flamboyantly feminine attitude that seemed to shout, “We’re on vacation!” — K.G.

Adam Lippes“I have been traveling a lot, doing trunk shows, interacting with my customer, “ said Adam Lippes at his resort preview. “So I have all this information.”

Judging from the looks on the racks, he definitely got some valu-able feedback. Everything looked great, making a strong statement while being completely wearable — a tough balancing act, but Lippes made it all seem effortless. He spoke about being inspired by home decor, turning a chintz print into a lovely fit-and-flare dress and even a shoe. But it was his fresh take on lace and knitwear that really brought freshness to the lineup: the former, via a neon pink wispy dress with a slip; the latter with a striped flared skirt and short-sleeve sweater combo.

Lippes also pointed out that for him, resort is a seasonless collec-tion: “My customer is always [off] somewhere, she’s going places, traveling” — so he offered some sensible outerwear for her. Case in point: a cozy, gray-hooded poncho that “you can live in.” — M.A.

Camilla and MarcBreathability and spacial distance were the overarching concepts for Camilla Freeman-Topper and Marc Freeman’s fluid resort col-lection. Ruffled, flared sleeves and off-shoulder silhouettes were cut loosely, providing ease and move-ment to the minimalistic silhouettes. Raw, unfinished hemlines and seams further played on the idea of breadth and air. Sheer organza with cotton, white-on-white diag-onal stripes appeared on breezy, cut separates and a dress with an exaggerated asymmetric hemline, a new silhouette for the brand that of-fered great flow. A flirty mini-dress with flared sleeves was similarly lightweight; it was done in tulle with gold fleck embroidery, a scheme built around the gold-tinged palette of 17th-century Flemish painter Jan Frans van Dael. Other metallic trac-es were evident in a grainy silver lamé slipdress, deceptively chaste in its lightweight allure.

There was also slight tension between restriction and openness that gave the clothes some tough-ness, notably in the pieces with interwoven lacing. One standout look: a mini-dress with side cutouts and lacing, worn over a high-neck shirtdress. — ANDREW SHANG

Resort Now Peter Pilotto

Adam Lippes

Camila and Marc

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Zac Zac PosenFor resort, Zac Posen sent out an extensive, well-thought-out lineup, showing heavily detailed pieces that managed to hit the Zac Zac Posen target price point (which ranges from $150-$1300). “It’s not easy, but we have learned so much,” he said, adding proudly, “Last year alone we saw a 40% percent increase in sales.”

It’s hard to make a circus theme work without falling victim to kitsch, but for the most part, Posen managed as he “played with all-over embroideries, ruffles, piping, [pom-poms,] polka dots and a poodle print.” The black leather jackets and a gray ribbed dress featured only the subtle outline of stars; the printed pups on tied blouses were small enough that they were not obvious (in fact, not even observed at first glance). The tiered gowns featured no embellishments at all.

It all kept, things were balanced, cool and certainly “fun!” as the designer put it. Perhaps the key is really in the details. — MAYTE ALLENDE

Elie SaabElie Saab turned his lens to Japan for his hyper-feminine resort lineup, juxtaposing a mélange of references, from kimonos to kawaii culture. Layered ruffles — a nod to the island nation’s wisteria trees’ tiered branches — adorned the lineup’s tops, jumpsuits and dresses, with several of the silhouettes also featuring exposed shoulders, kimo-no sleeves or obi-style belts and bow ties. Other tops and dresses featured graphic prints inspired by cherry blossoms or floral-embroidered guipure lace.

The designer took a maximalist approach to embel-lishment, covering sporty bombers and gowns with in-tricate beadwork, sequins and floral appliqués. A series of looks rendered in brightly colored leather toughened things up a touch. — K.G.

HellessyFor the record, Sylvie Millstein was ahead of the off-the-shoulder look that has caught on like wildfire in the last few seasons. “It’s become such a big trend we’ve had to reinvent ourselves,” she said, half-joking, during a preview of her Hellessy resort lineup. She reimagined her off-the-shoulder statement blouses and tops, which have been her bestsellers, as silk and cotton men’s wear shirts cut to fall off the shoulder with a sleeve that can be unbuttoned up the arm, as well as peasant tops with dramatic blouson sleeves done in micro-floral prints, inspired by the traditional South American corrida de sortija gaucho festival.

Working in chambray, dense double-faced cotton and a striped silk jacquard infused the lineup with a rustic casualness without sacrificing the collection’s luxury sensibility. Millstein focused on making each piece, including a midnight-blue mink bomber and languid skirts in red and marigold, stand-alone items. Resort “ships during markdown season,” said Millstein. “I want to give the customer something fresh to wear now and not only to a tropical vacation destination,” Well said.

Millstein is also launching e-commerce next month, with a focus on her best-selling statement tops. — JESSICA IREDALE

Dion LeeToying with reflective light and transparency are con-stant touchstones for Dion Lee. This season he honed in on glass textures, creating “crystal crochet,” a fabric made from clear glass beads that accented the trims of minidresses, skirts and tops. Sheer elements also came into play on a series of looks featuring subtle, peekaboo embroidery that revealed hints of skin beneath, while other silhouettes featured zippered, folded hemlines for a “peeled-away” effect.

It wouldn’t be a Dion Lee collection without a sexy little dress, and his resort lineup included several, among them a group featuring elaborate corsetry and high slits. He also reimagined an elegant silk slip-dress with cutout, “suspended” straps and a wrapped, layered bodice. On the other end of the spectrum, his daywear included boyish denim, backless ribbed sweaters and easy, off-the-shoulder cotton shirting. — KRISTI GARCED

Ports 1961Experimentation was key for creative director Natasa Cagalj this season. While preserving the label’s playful yet sophisticated aesthetic, she channeled it into new shapes, proportions and cuts. The result: a relaxed lineup of both tailored and sporty pieces.

Cagalj introduced rounded sleeves for oversize coats in herringbone, wool or heavy twill, some with large buttons. The rounded silhouette also manifested itself in cotton shirts and casual, factory-floor pants with drawstring ties at the ankle. Playful touches included childlike doodles in bright rainbow colors, scrawled on cotton poplin shirts. The designer also experimented with fabrics for bold red, blue and white hued athletic styles, using woven jacquard fabrics with exposed threads as fringes. Loose, raw fringes also added a dose of freshness to knitted separates. Suits represented the brand’s more traditional, tailored side; but in keeping with the roomy theme, even these were done with wide-leg trousers — and in sorbet shades of pastel pink and yellow.

“We would like positivity to come across our clothes that we design. So, we hope that there’s a playfulness…and high quality and fit,” said Cagalj. — LORELEI MARFIL

Rebecca MinkoffA girls’ trip to the American Southwest, with stops in kitschy hotel rooms along the way, informed Rebecca Minkoff’s resort lineup. A cool coat in a Native American chief’s blanket-striped print stood out, as did several pret-ty sweaters with lace-up details.

While other parts of the collection, such as the bohe-mian dresses and tops, weren’t groundbreaking, they will surely satisfy Minkoff’s devoted, trend-loving clientele. As will accessories like the pom-pom embellished bags and the embroidered clogs. — M.A.

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all of the innovation and trends happen so quickly,” said Karin Tracy, Facebook’s U.S. industry lead for beauty and luxury, speaking to WWD before the intimate event that drew 75 attendees, from brands such as L’Oréal, Smashbox and NYX. “As the consumer behav-ior evolves, we are going to be seeing more conversions.”

Facebook is already detecting strong mobile momentum in beauty. Released at the summit, a report by Facebook IQ entitled “Beauty Beyond: The Thumb is in Charge” revealed internal data showing more than three in ten beauty and personal-care purchases by people 18 years old and above occurred on mobile from September to December. Millennials, moms and multicul-tural customers accounted for 81 percent of beauty transactions last holiday season. In five to ten years, the report predicted, everyone will be a mobile shopper, an asser-tion supported by a finding that 64 percent of omnichannel Millennial beauty buyers obtain products on smartphones compared to 54 percent of Gen Xers and a quarter of Boomers.

The trick to enticing mobile-savvy beauty buyers is offering captivating social media content that will build brand equity as well as revenues. That content is taking shape in a growing variety of formats, and video is playing a larger role for beauty brands. “What they need to figure out now is how to translate their storytelling for mobile, where our users are watching 100 million hours of video daily on Facebook and the time people watched video increased more than 40 per-cent on Instagram,” said Tracy.

Thomas Puckett, creative strategist for beauty and luxury at Facebook, gave suggestions for advertising success based on recent campaigns using video and research. Citing Nielsen Digital Brand Effect metrics, he detailed that 3 seconds into a video, 47 per-cent of the value is delivered, and 10 seconds in, 74 percent is delivered. “You need to capture the attention quickly, so people won’t just scroll right by you,” said Puckett.

Immediacy was at the heart of a campaign by L’Oréal to promote Root Cover Up, which

displayed the product concealing gray roots in a seconds-long video that segued into carousel ads featuring several images exhib-iting shades and directing consumers to buy them. “That’s a high need state and that’s an incredibly dramatic presentation that answers that high need,” said Puckett. According to Facebook, the campaign resulted in a 30-point lift in ad recall and a 12-point lift in product awareness.

For its fall collection, Puckett pointed out, nail polish brand OPI produced a mixed-me-dia carousel program that was “a well-thought out campaign that [generated] fantastic results.” Working with Instagram to develop the campaign, OPI showcased four nail trends for the season, such as venetian lace and

ombré, and presented their polishes with objects and in surroundings that hammered home the trends. Facebook disclosed the campaign reached 5.4 million people and caused an 11-point lift in ad recall and a three-point lift in top-of-mind awareness.

Aurelien Jehan, senior vice president of marketing and creative at OPI, credited a lifestyle-oriented approach for the campaign’s effectiveness. “Think about the content that we used to put out there — which was a bottle of OPI and that was basically about it. We wanted to give more context to our story,” he said, adding, for example, that a bottle of

the minty blue shade Gelato On My Mind was paired with real gelato in a visual. Of OPI’s goal for the campaign, Jehan elaborated, “Where we really need the help of Instagram and Facebook is to target the unfamiliar cus-tomer. When we do that and they engage with these posts, we manage to drive them to our Web site, which is the ultimate goal.”

Targeting is a key element of Facebook’s value proposition to beauty brands. In another OPI campaign for polishes it part-nered on with Hello Kitty, Jehan noted the brand pursued consumers interested in Hello Kitty, OPI and nail art. “That super-refined targeting cannot really happen on any other place,” he said. With Facebook’s targeting capabilities, Tracy emphasized beauty

marketers can “reach personalized marketing at scale. They can target an audience of beau-ty-obsessed consumers, and we have millions of them that we can reach. It’s that at-scale piece that’s going to move product for them.”

Facebook is flexing the muscle of its reach with Facebook Live. Although Twitter-owned Periscope was earlier to live video broadcasts, beauty brands appear to be adopting Face-book Live at a rapid pace. Every Thursday, the brand Benefit stages “Tipsy Tricks with Benefit!” on the platform, with a guest and a host who choose a beauty topic, dish out advice, sip wine and field questions. Two

initial streams pulled in 42,000 and 59,000 viewers, with an average of 2,000 people watching at any given time. In general, Face-book mentioned people spend three times longer watching a live video than a video that’s not live, and comment a minimum of ten times more on Facebook Live videos than on videos elsewhere.

Illustrating how Facebook Live can be skill-fully tapped, Puckett highlighted live videos of Oscar-winning makeup artist Mark Coulier doing zombie special-effects makeup and Asian singer-songwriter Yuna, an ambassador for SK-II, announcing her world tour. Tracy said, “It’s the power of TV — in your pocket. It’s a massive opportunity for marketers in the beauty space.” Jehan believes Facebook Live could be a powerful tool for live nail tutorials. “That would be a great way to connect. It’s very true to us, and it could also be leveraged worldwide,” he said.

Going forward, Facebook will provide beauty marketers with an even fuller cabinet of tools to consider. Puckett expects virtual reality to become a promising avenue for beauty brands, envisioning a virtual expe-rience on a device from Oculus, which is owned by Facebook, that transports people to the sea for a close-up look at the ingre-dients in La Mer products. He continued, “What about designing a building and being able to walk through it before it is even built.” Puckett stressed brand participation in virtual reality, now primarily the province of gamers, remains a year to a year-and-a-half out. “It’s too nascent,” he said.

Facebook Messenger bots that rely on arti-ficial intelligence to handle customer service may be closer to actual applications in the beauty industry. Facebook estimates at least 900 million people use Messenger monthly, and the number of messages between people and businesses on Messenger more than dou-bled in the past year. The company is testing initiatives around ride-sharing, order receipts and live chat on Messenger.

Tracy counseled brands to focus today on Facebook Messenger’s customer-service func-tions with the employees they have, not with automated bots. “We have yet to understand what the real potential is for businesses on Messenger. We think it is going to be great, especially in the beauty space, where people have lots of questions,” she said. “What beauty brands are doing in the short term is having Messenger set up on their pages, and making sure they are answering questions in a timely manner. Then, as the developers figure out the right technology around bots, they will be ready, because they will have understood the patterns of questions being asked, to inform the artificial intelligence.”

10 7 JUNE 2016

● Consumers are angered by the beauty brand’s association with a singer and actress known to support Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement.

BY AMANDA KAISER WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM CASEY HALL AND TIFFANY AP

Lancôme is facing threats of a boycott and negative backlash from consumers in both Hong Kong and mainland China over its association with a singer and actress known to support Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement.

Canto-pop singer and actress Denise Ho was slated to perform at a Lancôme-spon-sored event in Hong Kong on June 16, according to the star’s official Facebook page. On Saturday, Chinese state-backed newspa-per, Global Times, posted a message on Sina Weibo that sparked thousands of negative responses on the social media platform

about Ho’s connection to the beauty brand. Subsequently, Lancôme Hong Kong posted messages on its Facebook account stating that Ho is not a spokesperson for the brand and canceling the event due to “safety reasons.”

A Lancôme Hong Kong spokeswoman declined to provide further comments beyond the Facebook statements.

A spokeswoman for L’Oréal, Lancôme’s parent company, in Paris had no additional comment, either.

“We have received tip-offs from netizens that Listerine and Lancôme, both popular brands on the Mainland, have recently invited Denise Ho — a Hong Kong and Tibet indepen-dence advocate — to promote their products in Hong Kong. What do you guys think?,” the Global Times asked on Weibo.

In response, some Weibo users called for a boycott of Lancôme products and questioned whether they should continue to buy prod-ucts from any other brand under L’Oréal’s umbrella.

On Weibo a user with the handle @Zhong Hua Xiao Ya Gao wrote: “I am willing to lose my favorite Lancôme products, but should I boycott all of L’Oréal? I am a big fan of YSL, so

it would be a shame.”Weibo user @Ma Hua Su Xin Tang wrote:

“Now, in addition to the other brands I despise, I will not use Lancôme.”

Meanwhile, Hong Kong social media is rife with backlash against the beauty brand for canceling the concert.

“So who are you expecting to cause safety concerns? Is it the Hong Kongers or the Mainlanders? Is that how you see your cus-tomers, as potential rioters? I dare you clarify, Lancôme,” wrote Gareth Tang on the brand’s Facebook page.

Ho issued her own response to Lancôme on her Facebook page. The star said she was asking the brand’s French headquarters to explain its reasoning behind the decision, adding that Lancôme “seriously misled the public” and harmed her reputation.

“Freedom, justice, equality have always been the ideals of Hong Kongers but now if we insist on these we are subjected to this inexplicable punishment,” she said. “Is this really the kind of society we want? Compa-nies, other than chasing profits, also have a moral responsibility.”

This September will mark the two-year

anniversary of the pro-democracy protests that swept Hong Kong, sparking violent clashes between demonstrators and police. The protests heaped further pressure on the city’s retailers, which were already grappling with a protracted slowdown in sales.

Tensions between Hong Kongers and big-spending mainland Chinese have been simmering for years as Beijing has asserted its political power over the Special Administra-tive Region. Back in 2012, protesters assem-bled at a Dolce & Gabbana store in Hong Kong after a shop employee allegedly barred a Hong Kong resident from taking a photo out-side the store. At the same time, press reports contended that Dolce & Gabbana did not, in turn, restrict mainland Chinese tourists and foreigners from taking photos.

Tie-ups with celebrities in China can be tricky business. Back in 2008, Dior China dropped ads featuring Sharon Stone after the actress made controversial comments follow-ing a massive earthquake in Sichuan.

In an interview widely disseminated on YouTube, Stone said “the Chinese” had been unkind to Tibetans and the quake might have been karmic retribution for China.

RETAIL

Lancôme Faces Backlash, Boycott Threats in Hong Kong, China

Karin Tracy at Facebook’s first beauty summit.

Facebook To Beauty Marketers: The Moment for Mobile Is Now CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

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● The e-commerce company was founded in 2015 by Diapers.com veterans Christina Carbonell and Galyn Bernard.

BY ALLISON COLLINS

Two veterans of Diapers.com are betting a similar e-commerce model will work in the children’s clothing market.

Primary, the start-up brainchild of Christina Carbonell and Galyn Bernard, just closed an $8 million Series A round of venture capital funding, led by U.S. Venture Partners, which has also invested in Trunk Club and Hotel Tonight. Grace Beauty Capital, Homebrew, Harrison Metal Capital and other investors also participated in the round.

Carbonell and Bernard started Primary in 2015, after spending four years working together at Quidsi, the parent company of Diapers.com, which is now part of Amazon. “We just want to be able to shop for kids clothes the way you shop for diapers,” said Bernard, Primary’s chief executive officer.

Primary sells colorful, cotton children’s basics, including leggings, T-shirts and sweatshirts, online. The clothes are free

from slogans and logos or other adorn-ments, and focus instead on the color and texture of the materials used, Carbonell and Bernard said. “It’s like the Crayola of a kid’s closet,” said Bernard.

The business doesn’t discontinue styles, allowing parents to replenish pieces in the next size up as their children grow. Prices range from $6 to $24.

It’s a different business model than other market players, who are generally more

focused on trend and fresh assortment. “All of them really are…bringing new styles all the time as a way to market,” said Bernard. “But it sort of left us, as busy parents, feel-ing like there was an opportunity to make this easier.”

Since it was founded, the company has doubled sales quarter-over-quarter, the founders said.

“We are taking on this huge, $30 billion kids clothing market in the U.S., which is highly fragmented but [has had] very little innovation in decades,” said Carbonell. “In our first year we’ve achieved proof of concept. The customer reaction has been incredible, and now from here, we’re really looking to scale the business to a very meaningful level.”

The investment will allow Primary to grow its staff, which already includes designer Patrick Robinson, who joined in late 2015 as head of design. Robinson runs his own line, Paskho, and has worked for the Gap, Giorgio Armani and Anne Klein.

Aside from adding employees, Primary is looking to focus on investing in marketing and heightened replenishment capabilities. Currently the brand’s advertising comes primarily through social media, especially Instagram and Facebook. Profitability is expected to come in the next few years, the founders said.

“By being online-only distribution, as well as by not doing trend, we avoid a lot of costs that other competitors have that let us really do two things – one is just offer better value to customers…we’re able to reinvest those savings in better prices…and get to a profitable business very quickly,” said Bernard. “We think this could be a billion-dollar business.”

BUSINESS

Children’s Clothing Start-up Primary Raises $8M

● The privately-owned house is known for gold jewelry inspired by Greek antiquity and worn by Jackie Onassis and Elizabeth Taylor.

BY JOELLE DIDERICH

PARIS — Zolotas, the Greek jewelry brand worn by personalities including Jackie Onassis and Elizabeth Taylor, has returned to Paris after a 25-year absence as the first step toward international expansion.

The privately owned house, known for its gold jewelry inspired by Greek antiquity, has opened a 1,400-square-foot store at 3 Rue de Miromesnil, a stone’s throw from the Elysée presidential palace.

Created in 1895, the firm has historic ties to France. Founder Efthymios Zolotas trained on Place Vendôme and his son Xenophon, an economist and statesman, summed up the company philosophy in a text written in French, which is displayed on an engraved plaque on the store’s facade.

These days, Zolotas is owned and run by Marianne Papalexis, a Frenchwoman who has been with the company for more than four decades, and her son Georges Papalexis, who took over as chief executive officer and artistic director in 2009.

“I am fortunate to be half-French, half-Greek, so it was a personal dream to return to the international scene starting with France,” said Georges Papalexis. “Paris is a center for creativity and inspiration, and Zolotas has a place in Paris because the French customer loves and respects the his-tory of the brand and our style of jewelry.”

Marianne Papalexis, chairwoman of the company, noted that it rose to prominence in the Sixties, becoming popular with Greek shipping magnates, jetsetters and

celebrities such as Maria Callas and Dewi Sukarno. More recent fans include Cath-erine Deneuve, Carole Bouquet and Adèle Exarchopoulos.

“All the other jewelers are our competi-tors, of course, but you can’t really say we have any direct competition, because we have a very specific style,” she noted. “But we realize that a lot of people have forgot-ten us or don’t know who we are, so it’s obvious that we must absolutely let them know we exist.”

Zolotas specializes in traditional tech-niques for working gold, which is sculpted, woven or hammered. Its Heritage collec-tion features mythological animals like bulls, lions and rams; the Classics collection is based on minimal shapes in hammered gold, and the Byzance collection represents the more Baroque end of the spectrum.

Prices range from 450 euros, or around $510, for a ring to 80,000 euros, or

$91,000, for certain high jewelry pieces, but average price points hover between 3,500 euros and 5,500 euros, or $3,980 and $6,250.

The house produces its jewelry in Greece and until now sold it exclusively through its Athens flagship, where an estimated 35 percent of customers are from overseas. Marianne Papalexis said she hoped the Paris store would account for 40-45 percent of global revenues at the end of its first year, but declined to disclose additional figures.

Zolotas had a store on Rue Saint-Honoré from the mid-Sixties to the late Eighties, but the new boutique sits among art galleries. “We produce works of art, so we think it’s legitimate for us to be in this neighborhood next to great art galleries. It sets us apart from the jewelers on Place Vendôme,” Georges Papalexis said.

He noted the Greek economic crisis has caused revenues at Zolotas to fall by 30 percent in the last six years, but things are looking up. “The future of the company relies on internationalization, but also on Greece, because we have seen a return of foreign tourists in Athens in the last two years,” he said.

He hopes to eventually re-enter the U.S. market with a store in Los Angeles or New York. The Paris flagship represents the first step in reintroducing the brand, which last year joined French luxury goods trade association Comité Colbert.

Designed by Greek architect Lykourgos Psareas, it has a midnight blue and marble facade. The interior is rendered in soft shades of gray punctuated by bronze dis-play units and touches of crimson.

The ground floor houses a circular jew-elry bar displaying capsule collections, jew-elry and accessories in gold, silver, leather and steel. On the first floor, customers can admire historic collections from the Fifties to the present day, including limited-edition collaborations with artists.

ACCESSORIES

Zolotas Targets Expansion With Paris Boutique

One of Zolotas’ necklaces at the brand’s new Paris store.A Chico’s storefront.

● Directors David Dyer and Verna Gibson will retire when their current terms expire on July 21, the day of the annual meeting.

BY VICKI M. YOUNG

Chico’s FAS Inc. has filed its definitive proxy materials and is urging its sharehold-ers to vote for its slate of board nominees.

The women’s specialty retailer is in the middle of a proxy fight with activist investor Barington Capital Group. In the letter to its shareholders, Chico’s said under the direction of new chief executive officer Shelley Broader, the company is “executing a new strategic plan built around four focus areas that we believe will usher in a new era of profitable growth and value creation for Chico’s FAS shareholders. We are making measurable progress on this plan — with more to come.” The four areas involve evolving the customer experience, strength-ening the position of each brand, leveraging data to develop algorithms for real-time decision-making and improving the finan-cials through cost-cutting and optimization of free cash flow.

The letter also noted that Broader has begun to build out her management team with new hires. The letter said, “As we look ahead, we intend to direct capital to further fortify our brands and drive profitable growth.” The company noted that contin-ued capital returns to shareholders through quarterly dividends and its share repurchase program will remain a priority — it said that since 2010, more than $1.1 billion, or 131 percent of free cash flow, has been returned to shareholders.

Two of Chico’s board members, current directors David Dyer and Verna Gibson, will retire when their current terms expire on July 21, the day of the annual meeting. The board will continue to consist of nine mem-bers, including eight independent directors and the company’s chief executive officer.

Chico’s nominated Bonnie Brooks, vice chairman of Hudson’s Bay Co., and Bill Simon, former president and ceo of Wal-Mart U.S., to stand for election. Also on the slate are Broader and Janice Fields, an independent director on Chico’s board and former president of McDonald’s USA LLC.

Barington has submitted two nominees to Chico’s board: Barington’s ceo James A. Mitarotonda and former Macy’s vice chairman Janet E. Grove. The proxy fight is unusual in that Barington seems to want just a seat at the table so its “voice” can be heard. It’s not pushing for a manage-ment change, nor is it seeking a sale of the company. The investment firm believes it has ideas on how to improve operations that could boost the stock price to the $26-a-share range over a three-year period. At the close of trading Monday, shares of Chico’s were up 0.06 percent to $11.38.

RETAIL

Chico’s Urges Shareholder Vote for Board Nominees

Primary sells cotton children’s basics, free of adornments.

12 7 JUNE 2016

● To launch the collaboration, the fashion awards show will be live-streamed for 150 guests at 837 Washington Street in New York, and then a few hundred more will join the after party.

BY ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

The ever-tightening bond between fashion and technology has become more fastened, thanks to a new yearlong partnership between the CFDA and Samsung 837.

A private audience of 150 guests will watch a live-stream of tonight’s CFDA Fash-ion Awards at the Samsung 837 space in the Meatpacking District. And afterward, hun-dreds will make their way to the experiential Washington Street address for the event’s official after party. DJ Mia Moretti won’t be the only source of music. There will also be a surprise performance, according to Zach Overton, general manager and vice presi-dent of Samsung 837.

The downtown double-header will kick off 12 months of special events, panel discussions and cocktail parties that aim to redefine how designers and fashion brands can reveal their creative process, outlook and marketing in more innovative ways. Unveiled last year, Samsung 837 has stadi-umlike seating, digitally activated installa-tions, a broadcast studio and other immer-sive features. For last week’s launch of two fitness wearables, Gear Fit 2 and the Gear IconX, Gwen Stefani performed outside in the street.

Aside from exploring how technology and culture intersect, the CFDA and Samsung 837 will be working together to market in new and unexpected ways, Overton said. One focal point for Samsung 837 will be working with the men’s wear designers who are part of the CFDA’s Platform 3. The plan is to develop virtual reality content that “amplifies” those designers and their pro-cesses, the execution of their ideas and how technology is having an impact on fashion, Overton said. The concept plays off similar ones Samsung 837 has staged including an up close and personal one with “Fight Song” musician Rachel Platten. As part of its “360° Meals” program, Samsung 837 shot a four-minute film of Daniel Boulud discuss-ing menu selection, creating recipes and preparing one in his kitchen. After watching the film and removing their goggles, guests were greeted by Boulud who then did a Q&A and prepared the recipe from the film for attendees.

In the next few weeks, Samsung 837 will host a New York Times-sponsored panel discussion about the future of fashion with Tory Burch, the CFDA’s president and chief executive officer Steven Kolb and others to try to “get to the heart of the fashion sys-tem,” Overton said. Before joining Samsung last fall, he worked for RED and prior to that, The Gilt Groupe.

FASHION

Samsung 837 And CFDA’s Yearlong Partnership

● The Ascena-owned division is devoting more store space and inventory to plus sizes.

BY DAVID MOIN

The Ascena Retail Group, operator of the Lane Bryant and Catherines chains for spe-cial sizes, thinks it can be more significant in the category through its Maurices division.

“I would love to see a third of our business in plus sizes. There’s no reason why it can’t be,” George Goldfarb, president and chief executive officer of the $1.1 billion Maurices chain, told WWD.

Currently 20 percent of Maurices’ volume is generated through plus sizes, but Goldfarb has triggered an “evolution” of the business, intending to grow the category to at least 30 percent of the total business by 2020. “It’s such an underserved market,” Goldfarb said. “There are not a lot of retailers serving sizes 0 to 26. For us, that’s a huge differen-tiator. The girls in our markets love the fact we are expanding our plus assortment. She is shopping with her girlfriends” who are a regular size. “They all want the same fash-ion. At our stores, she doesn’t have to go to a different floor. That’s the sweet spot.”

For the past several seasons, strategies for retailing plus sizes have been gaining some momentum, and there is greater acceptance that women of a certain size can be just as sexy and stylish as other women. Plus-size model Ashley Graham landed on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue this year, and she plays Joe Jonas’ love interest in a music video. Lane Bryant keeps adding to its stable of top designers creating plus-size

collections, including, most recently, Christian Siriano, and, earlier, Isabel Toledo. And Eloquii, the privately owned, direct-to-consumer plus-size brand, recently obtained a $15 million Series B round of financing to fuel growth. On Monday, Ashley Graham, another chain for plus sizes, though much smaller in scope than Maurices or Lane Bry-ant, was acquired by The Invus Group LLC, in partnership with senior management, from affiliates of Clearlake Capital Group L.P. and FirePine Group LLC.

According to NPD, plus sizes represent about 20 percent of the total women’s apparel business in the U.S., which stands at $108 billion. Women ages 18 to 44 account for 37 percent of the plus-size apparel spend.

Maurices, as well as other divisions of Ascena, are eager to devote more resources to plus sizes before too many other retailers catch on. As David Jaffe, Ascena’s president and ceo, said in a recent conference call, “We’re trying to build Lane Bryant’s and Catherines’ market share. And with respect to Dressbarn and Maurices, particularly Maurices...we’re allocating more inventory dollars, more square footage” to plus sizes. “And we’ve seen good response to that prod-uct and see that business continuing to grow and gain share, both within the store as well as within the marketplace.”

Reconfiguring space at Maurices stores, which average 5,000 square feet, won’t be a problem, said Goldfarb. Maurices, which was founded in 1931 by E. Maurice Labovitz, in Duluth, Minn., where the company is still based, will open its 1,000th store this fall. Maurices has served the plus-size market for a decade.

“We have plenty of space we can carve

out, and we are able to find other effi-ciencies,” Goldfarb said, which involves converting some nonretail into retail space and bringing in new fixturing. Plus sizes are carried in all Maurices stores except for around a dozen, he said. “The space is the least of my worries. We continue to add more and more product.”

There are many customers who wear plus-size tops and regular-size bottoms, or vice-versa. “Twenty-seven percent is that crossover customer,” Goldfarb said.

“We’ve made plus sizes one of our blue-chip initiatives. It really fits into what we are all about — diversity, being inclusive, ageless styles, flowy and feminine styles.” Denim shorts, denim jeggings, flowy tops are current bestsellers, he said. “It’s not different from what I am seeing on the other side of the business,” Goldfarb added. Plus size and regular size margins are “pretty comparable.”

Maurices, which targets 20- to 40-year-olds in small to mid-size markets around the country, has built up its plus-size assort-ment online more than in the stores. “She converts a little higher online than regular customers,” Goldfarb said. He also said that plus-size customers interact a lot on social media. “She’s an advocate for other plus customers. But it could also be because she has seen some of the changes we have made to increase our pluses.”

He also said the company “solicits customer feedback extensively — no matter what kind of customer she is.”

Asked if plus sizes could one day spin off into a separate chain, Goldfarb replied, “I would not say it’s on my current road map, but I would not rule out anything.”

RETAIL

2020 Vision: Plus Sizes to BeOne-Third of Maurices’ Business

● The Canadian retailer has launched a 6,000-square-foot store in one of the most successful shopping centers on Long Island.

BY SHARON EDELSON

Canada’s Aritzia doesn’t usually shout about its prices or dress up its stores in flashy trappings. Rather, units are designed to convey a casual, lounge-like atmosphere.

The $550 million retailer may have slid into the U.S. under the radar in 2007, but it’s steadily built a successful business with proprietary brands such as Wilfred, Babaton and Le Fou by Wilfred, which are augmented by third-party collections in categories that Aritzia’s exclusive labels don’t provide, such as denim.

The retailer’s newest store, a

6,000-square-foot unit, opened last week at Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, N.Y.

“It’s a top-performing, large super-re-gional center that draws a wide range of customers from all over Long Island,” Oliver Walsh, chief marketing officer of Aritzia, said of Roosevelt Field. “It has a strong list of high-performing retailers. It was a natural progression outside of Manhattan.”

Aritzia operates 74 stores across North America in cities such as Vancouver, Toronto, Chicago and San Francisco. The retailer’s 18 stores in the U.S. include three units in Manhattan — in the Flatiron District, SoHo and Rockefeller Center.

In addition to Wilfred, Babaton and Le Fou by Wilfred, other private brands sold at the Roosevelt Field store include 1-01 Baba-ton, Wilfred Free, TNA, Community, Golden by TNA, Parklife, Talula and Auxilary.

“It’s a similar mix to our Aritzia stores on the East Coast, focusing on our fashion brands,” Walsh said.

“Attention to detail is one of our most important values, and it is reflected in the materials, fixtures, finishings, custom artwork and designer furniture selected for each of our unique locations,” Walsh said.

While every Aritzia store is designed to be unique, the Roosevelt Field unit features a number of anchoring design elements delineating the collections. It has an open feeling with an exposed ceiling, rustic wood columns and blond herringbone wood raised panels.

“Our goal is to create places for rich, memorable, human experiences — some-thing we believe people crave today more than ever before,” Walsh said. “The Roosevelt Field unit features a basket-arch storefront, art and sculptures, as well as a reading lounge area.”

Materials and finishes used in the store were inspired by Aritzia’s flagship locations and include marble merchandising tables and cash wrap, wire-wheeled grey oak tables, architectural wall panels, graphic wall murals, steel and glass interior parti-tions and raked stucco and stone flooring.

Walsh declined to discuss specifics of future store openings saying, “Our goal is to continue expansion across North America in the U.S. and in Canada in new, untapped territories.”

The company plans to open five stores in Canada and one in the U.S. by the end of the year.

“We recently opened a store in Boston at the Prudential Center and expanded our flagship on Robson Street in Vancouver and at Metrotown,” Walsh said. “We have several more projects in the pipeline.”

Aritzia is highlighting its private brands. The first Babaton boutique will open at Eaton Center in Toronto in late fall. Aritzia in 2014 opened a freestanding store for Wilfred on Robson Street in Vancouver adjacent to an existing Aritzia location.

RETAIL

Aritzia Opens Unit at Roosevelt Field

Black Egg Installation at Samsung 837.

The new Aritzia store at Roosevelt Field Mall.

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DIGITAL FORUM LOS ANGELES

NOVEMBER 15, 2016

• LOS ANGELES

CREATED BY WWD, BUILT FOR YOU

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Capucci DebutMacramé broderie anglaise at Capucci? Mario Dice, the newly appointed creative director of the brand, wants to add his own unexpected twist to the label. Providing a glimpse into his first collection for Capucci that will bow for spring 2017 in September in Milan, Dice said “the idea behind the col-lection is ‘the lightness of weight,’” and to create clothes that seem structured but that are superlight, with origami, intarsia, pleats and very few cuts. He also said he wants to introduce prints in a ready-to-wear collection that is designed to be worn “from day till evening.”

That said, the affable Dice is highly re-spectful of Roberto Capucci, known in the Sixties and Seventies for his architectural and sculptural approach to design. “We met and, at 86, he has the enthusiasm of a 20-year-old, but he urged me to feel free and to do what I felt like doing,” said Dice. “I loved listening to his story, but the first col-lection will expressly not be archival, then later I can go back to Capucci’s history, but now it’s my own idea.”

New majority owner, businesswoman and art patron Paola Santarelli empha-

sized Dice will “maintain the vision of Capucci but make it more contemporary and wearable.” She said the designs will be made by hand with Italian fabrics. “There will always be that little something more,” she explained, pointing to her own jacket, simple in a cream color except for an intricate design of inlaid silk ribbons in different colors. “We are not looking at maximizing sales, we want to build cred-ibility and a cultural and artistic concept that has value.”

By 2017, Santarelli hopes to open Capucci boutiques in Milan and Rome. The brand is available at around 90 multi-brands in Italy and 20 around the world. — LUISA ZARGANI

Good CauseItalian luxury leather goods house Tod’s and American designer Gabriela Hearst have collaborated on a limited-edition shoe for a good cause. Hearst updated Tod’s classic slip-on sneaker with a men’s brogue detail and Morse code trim that reads “love” — also the name of the shoe — which was a detail initially developed

for Hearst’s fall collection. The shoe will sell for $645 and 20 percent of proceeds will benefit Save the Children. Tod’s is manufacturing the shoe and distributing it at Tod’s stores and Tods.com. Made in Italy, the style is available in calf leather in black, navy, white and silver metallic leather with contrasting trim, handcrafted woven rope trim and rubber outsole with embossed pebbles.

To promote the project, Hearst orga-nized a portrait project with Peruvian photographer Hans Neumann, featuring Dakota Fanning, Lauren Hutton, Mirosla-va Duma, Lindsey Adelman, Save the Children donor Dorrit Morley and Save the Children staff member Zaineb Malick. Each subject is wearing Gabriela Hearst and the Tod’s and Gabriela Hearst “Love” slip-on shoes. — JESSICA IREDALE

To RussiaAntonio Marras is celebrating its part-nership with Russian giant retailer Bosco di Ciliegi with a haute couture capsule collection.

This will be unveiled on Monday night at Moscow’s Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, which is inaugurating an exhibition dedicated to Russian painter and illustra-tor Leon Bakst.

The capsule includes 30 upscale dresses specifically designed for the occasion, with the brand’s signature artis-anal approach and poetic aesthetic.

This project is part of Bosco di Ciliegi’s annual Art Festival organized to promote art and various forms of creativity. — MILES SOCHA

Curves AheadThe Mobile Art contemporary art container that Zaha Hadid created for Chanel in 2008 thrust her on to the radar of the international fashion flock, which couldn’t get enough of her curvy, futuristic buildings and forceful personality.

Before she died last March at age 65, the acclaimed Iraqi-British architect created another otherworldly white space for art: It is to house a major Kurt Schwit-ters retrospective at Galerie Gmurzynska in Zurich, slated to open June 12 and be reproduced at the gallery’s booth at Art Basel, also this month.

According to Mathias Rastorfer, director of Gmurzynska, Hadid was fully implicated in the entire project, and it will be her final major art installation, an interpretation of Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbau, the name given to the Hanover house he transformed with grotto-like forms in the Twenties and Thirties.

Rastorfer noted that Hadid’s “adoration of Kurt Schwitters work is lesser-known and will become fully apparent when seeing our exhibition.”

Galerie Gmurzynska represents Karl Lagerfeld, one of Hadid’s great friends, and regularly hosts exhibitions of his photography. — M.S.

Fashion Scoops

Talking FilmMarking its fifth anniversary, this year’s Berlin Fashion Film Festival stretched over two days and was as much summit as screening. Panel discussions at the invitation-only event Thursday and Friday hit on topics from marketing to Millennials to licensing music for film and video to the use and abuse of interns in the fashion industry.

Speakers included representa-tives from retailers Acne, Selfridg-es and Farfetch, brand strategy agencies Razorfish, Amsterdam Worldwide and Unruly, fashion media concerns Nowness and Vogue Video, and the London College of Fashion.

The festival’s submissions num-bered 821, of which 100 were nomi-nated. Those were whittled down to 40 winners in 20 categories by a jury including Berlin designer Michael Michalsky, photographer Rankin, DJ Hell and Vogue Italia senior editor Sara Maino. Awards were handed out Friday night.

Top scorers included Sean Baker’s film for Kenzo, “Snowbird,” which received the nod for Best Major Brand, and Thalia de Jong’s guinea-pig-grooming short “Golden Boy,” which won the Beauty and Cosmetics category. Best Film Clothing, Footwear and Accessories kudos went to Louis Levy and Grant

Curatola’s “Comfort,” made for Louis W. for APC.

The broad range of submissions and winners, which spanned from advertising to art to music video, illustrated the murky demarcations of the genre.

“A fashion film by its definition is a film where people wear clothes, and it’s driven by fashion,” explained director Justin Anderson, who has produced movies for Jonathan Saunders, Giorgio Armani and Agent Provocateur. “The question really, as filmmakers, is, How do you use those clothes to tell a story? And I think that’s what’s interesting.”

Vogue Video’s Alex Whiting said her team made content, such as Alexa Chung’s “Future of Fashion” series, not mood films that reflected photo shoots or runway looks. Jo-seph Delaney, programming director of Nowness, concurred.

“Fashion without context isn’t something we’re particularly inter-ested in,” he said. “It needs to be a vehicle to explore character, or story, or some kind of narrative.”

Substance over slick style and big names seemed to be the consensus, with Steve McQueen’s film for Burb-erry coming in for multiple candid critiques. The burgeoning form still fights to get funded, and needs stay grounded, its creatives say.

“We’re not making art, and I think

that’s important to say,” opined Justin Anderson. “It can look like art, it can be artistic. But it’s not art. This is business, and it’s commerce.” — SUSAN STONE

Good SportsA new EA7 Emporio Armani adver-tising campaign, photographed

by Serge Guerand, is bowing this month, marking the brand’s role as the official outfitter of Italy’s national team at the Rio 2016 Olympics and Paralympics.

Photographed in black-and-white on Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands, Guerand emphasized the athletic bodies of models Pietro Boselli and Penny Lane. The sandy

beaches of the island serve as the set for Boselli and Lane, seen wear-ing clothes, accessories and eye-wear designed by Giorgio Armani for the Italian athletes. The collection is available at Emporio Armani stores.

The designer first sponsored Italy’s team at the London Olympics in 2012. — LUISA ZARGANI

Memo PadSean Baker’s film

“Snowbird,” which was made for Kenzo, won for

Best Major Brand.

An image from the EA7 Emporio Armani campaign.

Antonio Marras Haute Couture Capsule for

Bosco di Ciliegi.A rendering of Zaha Hadid’s

final art installation.

The Love shoe from Tod’s collaboration with Gabriela Hearst.

Mario Dice

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